Chapter 142: Chapter 142: Speculations on Messaging

Zhou Heng had many wishes.

He wanted to know why he had transmigrated to this world, to understand the relationship between this world and Earth, and to figure out how he could return.

Besides that, there was the whereabouts of his parents in this world, whether they had anything to do with his transmigration, what lied within the forbidden lands of the West Wasteland, and so on.

If it were possible to make an unconditional wish, Zhou Heng would definitely wish for the ability to freely travel between this world and Earth. He wanted to go back first to assure his parents he was okay and tell them not to worry, to pretend he was just working “abroad.”

And he could also return home often.

The very thought was extremely tempting.

But it was unrealistic.

First of all, Zhou Heng did not know whether the wishes made here would be recorded.

If they were to be recorded, even if the Wishing Pool did not grant the wish, it would most likely leave a mark.

That would expose his identity as a transmigrator, which could lead to unpredictable consequences.

This couldn’t be done.

Wishes related to his previous life must not be made, at least not until he had enough strength.

It was very dangerous.

Then what wish should he make?

Should it be for a longer lifespan, some special abilities, or to complete his incomplete martial arts?

If he were to make these wishes, how should he describe them?

For a moment, Zhou Heng found himself in the throes of choice paralysis, unable to decide exactly what kind of wish to make.

Should he wish for a breakthrough from his current bottleneck and step directly into Seventh Rank?

When Zhou Heng thought about this, he did feel somewhat tempted.

But then he immediately realized that he could not guarantee there wouldn’t be hidden dangers in using a wish to break through, nor did he know if it would affect his future cultivation.

So, after careful consideration, he decided to give up this idea and continued to ponder.

Seeing that Zhou Heng seemed to be indecisive and lost in thought, the Inner Seat of the Five Emperors smiled and reminded him, “Actually, I suggest you not make too great a wish to start with, as it will require a vast amount of good deeds. With your current strength, you simply can’t accumulate enough, and it will only waste your opportunity to make a wish.”

“Ah?” Zhou Heng was startled at first, then felt a bit embarrassed and said, “Senior, can you tell that I’m struggling with some grand wishes?”

“Haha.” The Inner Seat of the Five Emperors laughed and said, “Do you know what I wished for the first time I came here?”

“What?” Zhou Heng asked curiously, as this could serve as a reference.

“I made a wish to improve my Taoist formulas aptitude,” the Inner Seat of the Five Emperors sighed. “This was after some consideration, giving up some bigger wishes. However, the amount of good deeds required was still out of reach for someone who was only at the Sixth Rank of the Martial Path at the time.”

To improve Taoist formulas aptitude, wasn’t that the same as enhancing one’s Spiritual Root?

Zhou Heng thought of the “Spiritual Root +1” basic attribute he had previously acquired, which had now become “Spiritual Root +2.” So this could also be achieved with a wish.

It was just unknown how many good deeds it would require.

But the amount of good deeds that even someone at the Sixth Rank of the Martial Path found unattainable was surely not a small number.

“Does senior have any suggestions?” Zhou Heng asked.

“I suggest you make some small and detailed wishes, ones that you really need right now, such as for weapons, martial arts, elixirs, and other tangible things,” the Inner Seat of the Five Emperors explained. He added, “By the way, wishing for tangible things is much simpler than intangibles, and requires far fewer good deeds.”

“Hmm, I understand, thank you, senior.” Zhou Heng nodded and, after some thinking, decided to start with what he currently needed.

A handy blade-grade knife weapon.

Now, both his sword and gloves were of blade grade, but his knife was still merely a common hundred-refined weapon. Even though he could use the “+2 Sharpness” attribute to enhance it, overall it still lagged behind.

It would be good to take this opportunity to get a suitable knife and also see how many good deeds were needed for a blade-grade weapon, to make a comparison with items of a similar level.

But how to describe it?

Following the advice of the Inner Seat of the Five Emperors, the more accurate and logically clear the description of the wish, and the closer to reality and finer the detail, the more likely it was to be granted.

“This seems to be similar to the requirements of a ‘prophecy’ I received earlier. Is there some connection?” Zhou Heng’s thoughts diverged and, after more contemplation, he came up with a precise description.

“I’ve made up my mind,” Zhou Heng said.

“Good, then I will step down,” the Inner Seat of the Five Emperors nodded and descended from the jade platform.

When making a wish, only one person could be on the jade platform so the silently chanted wish could be conveyed to the “Wishing Pool.” If there were two people, the wish would not transmit.

“I wish for a knife weapon of blade grade that suits my build, contains thunder properties, is relatively light, and ideally has some enhancement for speed.”

Zhou Heng silently recited his wish in his mind and after about three breaths, he received feedback.

It required five hundred good deeds.

And while receiving the feedback, a stream of light flashed on the jade platform, and Zhou Heng was directly transported from the platform to the bottom of the stairs, standing next to the Inner Seat of the Five Emperors.

“After each wish is made, if there isn’t enough stored virtue in the mask, one will be teleported off the Jade Platform,” said a smiling officer from the inner circle of the Five Emperors. “How much virtue does your wish require?”

Asking someone what their wish was is very impolite, but inquiring about the amount of virtue required is quite a normal affair.

This also made it easier for him to select an appropriate task for Zhou Heng.

“Five hundred,” Zhou Heng answered truthfully and asked, “Is that a lot?”

“Not too much, not too little,” the officer from the inner circle of the Five Emperors pondered for a moment and said, “The transitional tasks that one starts with usually reward between fifty to a hundred virtue points. Most of these tasks are purely investigational and don’t involve combat.

“If it’s a task involving combat, then it starts at a hundred virtue points, with tasks at the Lower Third Rank generally going up to a maximum of three hundred.

“Additionally, there are virtue rewards for eliminate ghosts and evil creatures.

“Fifty virtue points for Ninth Grade levels, eighty for Eighth Grade levels, and a hundred for Seventh Rank.”

“Looking at it this way, five hundred virtue points really doesn’t seem like a lot,” Zhou Heng said with a smile. “That’s good, at least it’s motivating and not an unattainable number.”

“It’s because the wish you made was quite pragmatic,” the officer from the inner circle of the Five Emperors sighed and said with a wry smile, “When I made a wish to improve my ability in Taoist formulas, it required thirty thousand virtue points.

“Moreover, after stepping into the Middle Third Rank, killing Lower Third Rank ghosts only yields ten percent of the original virtue reward, making it even more difficult.”

Thirty thousand… that’s rather excessive. Even if one kept killing Seventh Rank ghosts, that would mean extinguishing three thousand of them. And ghosts are adept at hiding; they’re not so easy to find, are they?

“Has senior’s wish come true then?” Zhou Heng asked curiously.

“Although the process was quite arduous, in the end, it was fulfilled,” said the officer from the inner circle of the Five Emperors with a smile: “Alright, let’s go. From now on, you can pay attention to the information in your mask; tasks will be assigned.

“The initial three tasks are distributed by the inviter. Once you become an official member, you will have to choose for yourself from among those tasks listed.”

“This mask can also receive information?” Zhou Heng said in surprise. “Are there no distance limitations?”

“None,” the officer from the inner circle of the Five Emperors laughed. “The mask is essentially a part of the Zhou Tian Star Chart, and the information is distributed through this Unique Divine Weapon.

“Its essence is extremely high, sufficient to cover vast spaces. However, if one must speak of limitations, it’s not related to distance, but to region. You can only receive messages within the territory of Da Qi; outside of it, you cannot.”

So, it’s a local area network… Zhou Heng silently criticized in his mind.

But such a “local network” with extensive coverage was still incredible. The territory of Da Qi’s thirty-three states was massive, and the ability to send messages over such distances without hindrance was truly powerful.

“Then, is it possible for members of the organization to contact each other?” Zhou Heng asked curiously, thinking of real-time communication as a young man who had lived in the internet age on Earth.

“You mean for members to send messages across distances through their masks?” The officer from the inner circle of the Five Emperors grasped Zhou Heng’s intention and said with a smile, “This idea is good, but unfortunately, we cannot achieve that at the moment.”

After that, the officer from the inner circle of the Five Emperors explained in detail to Zhou Heng why it was not possible.

In fact, this idea had been proposed shortly after the establishment of the Zhou Tian Boundary Officer, but attempts to implement it revealed that it simply could not be realized.

The Zhou Tian Boundary Officer could only distribute information through the Zhou Tian Star Chart to the masks, but the masks couldn’t send information in the reverse direction. Thus, the transmission of information was one-way, only distributing task information to the masks.

And even if the masks could send information back, to enable communication between two or more masks, a relay station would need to be built into the Zhou Tian Star Chart.

However, that required someone with a very high level of control over the Zhou Tian Star Chart, which no one at the Zhou Tian Boundary Officer had yet achieved, not even a Second Rank Tao Lord.

It was said that the two leaders speculated that it may not solely relate to one’s cultivation realm.

“I see,” Zhou Heng said, somewhat disappointed. He had thought he might relive the experience of using chatting apps in this world, but it seemed not feasible.

However, from the words of the officer from the inner circle of the Five Emperors, he learned another important piece of information: if the Zhou Tian Star Chart could cover vast spaces and ignore distance, could the Purple Tenuity Palace do the same?

With this thought, Zhou Heng’s eyes brightened, and he inquired, “Senior, since the Zhou Tian Star Chart can transmit messages regardless of distance, can the Purple Tenuity Palace also have the same feature, allowing us to enter it anytime and anywhere?”

He remembered that previously, the officer from the inner circle of the Five Emperors had just appeared out of thin air, and had also directly brought him from the outside into this strange void where the Purple Tenuity Palace was located.

“Where would such good fortune come from?” The officer from the inner circle of the Five Emperors laughed and said, “However, what you said isn’t entirely wrong; in theory, we could indeed enter the Purple Tenuity Palace from anywhere in this world.

“But our control over Purple Tenuity Palace is not sufficient to do so completely at will. We can only establish entry points in certain specific locations to facilitate entry and exit.

“However, if one’s cultivation reaches Fifth Rank, converts True Qi into Mana, and weaves it with principles to condense a Dharma Phase, then using some special talisman and spiritual guidance, one can descend directly from the Purple Tenuity Palace to the location of the spiritual guidance.

“Mm, later on, I will send you the entrance locations of the Purple Tenuity Palace near each prefecture’s city and the corresponding seal spell formulas, along with the assigned tasks,” he said.

With that, Zhou Heng’s initial induction process into the Zhou Tian Boundary Officer was almost complete. Next, after he finished three tasks, he would become a formal member.

The officer from the inner circle of the Five Emperors sent Zhou Heng and his jujube-red horse back to the road they were on before departing again.

He had to go back and select suitable tasks for Zhou Heng.

Afterward, Zhou Heng resumed his journey to the Chang Xing Sect, but along the way, he kept seeing urgent hoof prints, as if horses had just recently passed.

These meant that someone had been galloping along this road at high speed.

And judging by the hoof prints, it wasn’t just one horse but at least three, which seemed to be in pursuit of someone.

However, the horses were close together, and ahead there were no traces of someone attempting to escape on horseback.

Who were they pursuing?

Suddenly, an idea flashed through Zhou Heng’s mind, and he frowned, murmuring to himself with some uncertainty, “This… couldn’t be a pursuit for me, could it?”